Justin Jimawo is a Spencer Fellow originally from Nigeria, where he earned his BS in Animal and Environmental Biology from the University of Benin in 2019. He was also a student intern with Nigeria’s National Biotechnology Development Agency, a graduate trainee at the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, and the social media manager for Small Mammal Conservation Organization SMACON. He is now a graduate research assistant at the Odum School of Ecology, studying how septic tank systems alter water quality and chemistry, including that of groundwater, rivers, and streams in Athens Clarke county and its environs.

Valeria Aspinall is one of this year’s Spencer fellows. After graduating high school in her native Costa Rica, Aspinall attended Colorado State University, where she was a teaching assistant for various courses. She earned her BS in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology before returning to Costa Rica, where she has served as program coordinator for an amphibian conservation program called Tlaloc Conservation within Costa Rica Wildlife Foundation. She is now at the Odum School of Ecology, studying conservation and focusing her research on a recently discovered, micro-endemic tree frog in Costa Rica (Tlalocohyla celeste) that was categorized as critically endangered in the most recent IUCN Report. 

Mackenzi Hallmark is this year’s Butler fellow and a master’s student working with Dr. Sechindra Vallury exploring farmer attitudes regarding water conservation practices. After graduating from Virginia Tech with a BS in Biology, Hallmark gained extensive experience as a research technician, monitoring feral hog populations at Tall Timbers Research Station, researching amphibian conservation, and longleaf pine ecosystem hydrology and wetland monitoring at the Jones Center at Ichauway.